The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsPatent NumberKind CodeIssue DatePatentee4,752,878AJun. 21, 1988Sigurdsson6,415,543B2Jul. 9, 2002Keller8,136,289B2Mar. 20, 2012Modglin6,220,538B1Apr. 24, 2001Durso6,634,134B1Oct. 21, 2003Nyquist
Catching fish is commonly performed using a combination of a fishing reel and rod that support a fishing line with a bait or lure at the end of it. Extensive attention is paid to the type of bait that is used, how it looks, and specifically to how it moves in order to most successfully imitate what fish are normally attracted to eating. A common way to cause the bait to move is through the act of “jigging” where the bait is moved by the fishing line through the action of operating the fishing reel and/or moving the fishing rod. The preferred jigging motion depends on many factors, such as the type of bait that is used, the species of fish sought, the environment being fished, etc. Often-times this jigging is manually performed.
This jigging approach causes various challenges for fishermen. These include having knowledge of what jigging motions are most appropriate for a particular fishing situation, performing such jigging motions properly and repeatedly, having the physical ability to perform the necessary actions, fighting fatigue from continuous jigging, performing these actions on multiple fishing rods simultaneously, etc. Furthermore, such laborious activity takes away from a common goal of wanting to relax and enjoy the outdoors, while being successful at catching fish.
Various attempts have been made at automating jigging. However, these approaches have significant limitations, as discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,543 describes a cam-based device that will produce cyclic motion that oscillates the rod up and down. Such a device, in addition to being bulky and introducing additional setup/take-down time, is limited in the motion it imparts to the bait. Such monotonous repetitive motions do not replicate the finesse of the natural movement that the bait is intended to imitate. Cam-based systems are thus severely limited in both the range of displacement and the actual motion details they generate.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,136,289 describes a jigging device that uses a reciprocating actuator to generate motion at the bait. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,543, it too is limited in the range and finesse of motion that it generates and requires carrying bulky equipment and introduces additional setup/take-down time. Furthermore, both described devices require attachment to external support structures, again limiting their convenience and availability for use.
Another device, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,134, again requires the use of bulky devices to generate the motion, and an external support to mount to. It attempts to provide more variety in the types of motions it generates by using a motor controlled with a processor. However, due to the inherent mechanical limitations of the rod holder, it can only produce a fairly limited range of displacement. And because of the large amount of mass that has to be moved (rod, reel, rod holder, etc.), it is also severely limited in the finesse of the motion it can generate at the delicate lure. And because this and the previously referenced devices do not compensate for the slack produced in the fishing line by reeling it in, their effectiveness in continuing to impart motion to the bait is significantly reduced.
Other solutions, as proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,220,538 and 4,752,878 incorporate a motor into a reel. However, they also are very limited in the motions that are produced for the important purpose of imitating the natural motions of a live bait. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,878 relies on moving the lure to a preset fishing depth and after some period of time moving it to a different preset depth with no attempt to imitate the detailed motion of an attractive bait. U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,538 uses an electronic oscillator to periodically activate the motor to incrementally reel in the bait, albeit with a cyclic and unnatural approach. Although the actions of these described devices result in physically moving the bait, their results do not resemble the natural finesse of a live bait. Furthermore, these devices require using the described specialized reels, rather than allowing fishermen to use their own existing traditional fishing reels.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved solution for attracting and catching fish that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.